“Another group took the reference
model and worked with a testing lab
that created a parallel study on real animals. In this case, they created a whole
suite of patient specific animal models
including diseased ones, which then
they could validate against the real to
ensure that the models were accurate.

That work is being published now, and
the next step will be to use the models
to predict the best treatment,” Levine
says.

“We are flying in territory that has
never been crossed before,” he adds.

“Each time we identify complexityin areas of the heart mechanics, wereach out to one of our cardiologistsand ask what the observed behavioris supposed to be like and then workwith our biomechanics experts tore-tune the model. We also work withthe tissue mechanics experts about thedetailed behavior of the living tissuesin the heart, and how we can representthat correctly (Figure 3) . Step by step,beginning with the large cavities, theventricals and atria and we reproducethe right overall behavior. We con-tinually get more detailed; adding thecoronaries, getting the valves to funcionprecisely and accurately. So far, eachtime we’ve taken on a new challenge,we’ve been able to solve it.”

Reaping the Benefits

What makes this technology so
exciting is that it goes far beyond the
obvious. It provides a way for doctors
to test treatments/surgeries in a virtual
reality world before they actually do
a procedure on a patient. However,
beyond this, the project is making the
technology readily available to help all
medical device, system and drug developers to design and test their product
concepts in a way that is intensely
precise, much faster and more efficent
than ever before.

“In a recent project, we used ourheart model to discover if we couldsee the actual influence of drugs onthe overall behavior of the heart. Thismeant extending our whole heart mod-el to include cellular level behavior. Wecollaborated with Stanford Universityand built a version of our model electri-cal system where when we introduceddrugs into it, it could replicate the nor-mal behavior of drugs in the heart.”“We already provide the abilityto test new devices to predict theirlifetime to the medical device industry,but there isn’t a good understanding ofwhat the product is going to actuallysee in the human environment. That’swhat the Living Heart Project does.

By simulating the brain, knees, elbows,spine – all of the places where devicescan be added or implanted, this canpredict the lifetime of the product, anddo it in the context of use – which iswhat’s missing today.”“Devices are typically tested on abench set up to replicate a real humanenvironment, which of course is impos-

Figure 3. SIMULIA works with the tissue mechanics experts about the detailed behavior of the living tissues in the heart, and howwe can represent that correctly.